Mr. E. W. H. Holds worth on Ceylonese Birds . 123 
In my catalogue of the birds of Ceylon* I called attention 
to the migration of many of the resident species from one side 
of the island to the other at the times of the change of the 
monsoons, and also of some of the birds of the upper hills 
being met with periodically as low down as the neighbour¬ 
hood of Kandy, at an elevation of only 1500 or 1600 feet, 
which is about the highest range of the general low-country 
species. The hill-birds Mr. Legge mentions as being found 
in the lower part of the southern hills, are just the same 
species which, at only certain seasons, are met with at corre¬ 
sponding elevations near Kandy; and the question is whether 
the same rule does not hold good in both cases—namely, that 
just at the change of the monsoons, when there is a general 
break-up of the weather, followed by a complete reversal of 
the direction of the wind, the hill-birds temporarily descend 
to lower districts. The most remarkable instance of what 
has been hitherto considered a purely hill-species being found 
by Mr. Legge very low down on the small ranges near the 
sea, is Chrysocolaptes stricklandi. This bird is resident in 
the country between 4000 and 8000 feet (the latter being the 
highest elevation in the island); and I have met with it most 
abundantly at about 6000 or 7000 feet, and, more or less, at 
all times of the year. Unfortunately, Mr. Legge rarely gives 
any hint as to the time of year when he has obtained the hill- 
species in the lower districts of which he speaks. A specimen 
of this Woodpecker, however, which he sent home for iden¬ 
tification, and which came under my notice, was labelled as 
having been killed in March; and that is just the month, 
between the monsoons, when many of the hill-birds are met 
with about Kandy. It looks, therefore, in this case, as if the 
bird may have been only a visitor. 
Among other species resident in the highest parts of the 
island, and which Mr. Legge found at only 2000 feet, are 
Myialestes cinereocapilla and Eumyias sordida, and Zosterops 
ceylonensis as low as 1500. The first is, I believe, a hill- 
species in India, but descending to the plains in many places 
during winter; the other two are not known out of Ceylon, 
* P. Z. S. 1872. 
